The Shocking Second HIV Epidemic Among U.S. Gay Men That No One Is Talking About

Some LGBT rights groups today are focused on topics that make for an easier sell to the rest of society than HIV/AIDS.

August 15, 2012 |

pop quiz, no cheating allowed: if you had to guess, would you say that HIV and AIDS rates among gay men in the United States are A) declining, B) remaining stable, or C) rising?

The correct answer is C) rising, at an alarming 8% per year . HIV incidence -- that is, the proportion of a population infected -- among gay men in the United States rises by that amount every year since at least 2001. Overall, this incidence, at 15.4% cumulatively, is just slightly lower than the incidence among gay men in Sub -Saharan Africa . And there’s a good case to be made that the real numbers are actually higher; for instance, we know they’re higher in some major metropolitan areas, where the incidence among MSM (men who have sex with men) is oneinfive. In San Francisco, it may be ashighasoneinfour.

Overall, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that between 400,000 and 500,000 gaymen in the United States carried the virus in 2009, the most recent year for which data are available. Chillingly, gay and bisexual men are the only demographic to experienceariseinHIVinfection rates.

These are astonishing facts. The AIDS epidemic is now over three decades old and has taken over 600,000 lives in the U.S. alone. That’s more casualties than were seen in the entire Civil War. It’s also noteworthy that new infections in the U.S. are numerically stable overall, at roughly 50,000 a year over the last decade or so -- a number seemingly impervious to public or private prevention efforts.

Considering the carnage AIDS has inflicted on gay men in particular, it’s urgent that we examine what, if anything, can be done to save lives and to prevent the widespread damage of another generation -- today’s young men. The fewer than 1% of Americans who are gay or bisexual men between the ages of 13 and 29 comprise 27% of new infections.

TIMEHealthland describes the stakes in stark terms:

Public health experts have been concerned about the rising rates among MSM for years now, viewing the current epidemic as the second wave — the first having occurred in the 1980s. Today’s infections, they say, are affecting a new generation of men who didn’t live through the initial devastation of AIDS’ early days, when there were no drug treatments and a diagnosis was a death sentence. Public health messages about safe sex practices and testing targeted to gay men have waned in the intervening years, and now, some experts say, a new generation of at-risk men have to be educated about the disease.

There is no single reason why HIV rates have been rising again among gay men for at least a decade, or one tool that could hinder the process. The best we can do is identify contributing factors (with limited hard data), consider approaches to reach vulnerable demographics and help change behaviors.

Effective HIV therapy has been around since 1996, in the form of HAART (Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy) drugs. These drugs reduced mortality rates, previously near 100%, by 50% to 80%, and gave HIV patients a new lease on life.

An unintended side effect was that the drugs also reduced the visibility of the disease within the gay community. The “gay ghettos” of large cities were no longer the sole mournful province of the walking dead. The sense of urgency around the epidemic began to fade, while indicatorsofunprotectedsex, specifically the incidence of other sexually transmitted diseases, began to rise.

Why do we need someone to point out racists to us. If these people are really posting racist messages, surely we're all capable of recognizing it. We don't really need the handful of racism "watchdogs" we seem to have developed around here. Like my dogs who bark at just about anything, you guys seem to go nuts all the time whether there's anything to go nuts about or not.

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“The American people are tired of liars and people who pretend to be something they’re not.” - Hillary Clinton

Why do we need someone to point out racists to us. If these people are really posting racist messages, surely we're all capable of recognizing it. We don't really need the handful of racism "watchdogs" we seem to have developed around here. Like my dogs who bark at just about anything, you guys seem to go nuts all the time whether there's anything to go nuts about or not.

To be fair... I asked why all the hate on Vail.

I hardly spend any time in DC so I don't know about any history with Vail being a racist in here. That said, I scanned through several of his posts in this forum and haven't really seen anything to get riled up over.

Why do we need someone to point out racists to us. If these people are really posting racist messages, surely we're all capable of recognizing it. We don't really need the handful of racism "watchdogs" we seem to have developed around here. Like my dogs who bark at just about anything, you guys seem to go nuts all the time whether there's anything to go nuts about or not.

You know, the topic began on this thread when capone pointed out vile's post that he thought was hostile to gays.

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Quote:

Reporter: "I guess the question is: Why should Americans trust you when you accuse the information they receive as being fake, when you're providing information that is not accurate?"

TRUMP: "Well, I was given that information. I was, actually, I've seen that information around.

I hardly spend any time in DC so I don't know about any history with Vail being a racist in here. That said, I scanned through several of his posts in this forum and haven't really seen anything to get riled up over.

You're the one who started this whole thing on this thread.

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Quote:

Reporter: "I guess the question is: Why should Americans trust you when you accuse the information they receive as being fake, when you're providing information that is not accurate?"

TRUMP: "Well, I was given that information. I was, actually, I've seen that information around.

You know, the topic began on this thread when capone pointed out vile's post that he thought was hostile to gays.

I didn't think it was hostile towards gays. I understand that the internet is in black and white and asked him if I was understanding the meaning of his post correctly. I am glad I did because his comment was not intended in the way I read it. You are the one that brought race all up in this thread. My question to him was on topic.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cosmo20002

You are not misreading. But to be fair, his irrational anger towards others also extends to anyone with a skin tone other than 'white.' He also doesn't seem to care for people smarter than him, so its really a very small group that he finds acceptable--white and dumber than him--although there are many to be found on this board.

You know, the topic began on this thread when capone pointed out vile's post that he thought was hostile to gays.

I confess that I've lost track of who starts it in each thread. I just know that I keep seeing a handful of the same posters whining about a supposed abundance of racist posts in DC, sometimes specifically fingering a particular poster and sometimes not, sometimes pointing out specific posts but usually not, over and over and over. pr_capone isn't one of these people, btw.

__________________

“The American people are tired of liars and people who pretend to be something they’re not.” - Hillary Clinton

Why do we need someone to point out racists to us. If these people are really posting racist messages, surely we're all capable of recognizing it. We don't really need the handful of racism "watchdogs" we seem to have developed around here. Like my dogs who bark at just about anything, you guys seem to go nuts all the time whether there's anything to go nuts about or not.

I confess that I've lost track of who starts it in each thread. I just know that I keep seeing a handful of the same posters whining about a supposed abundance of racist posts in DC, sometimes specifically fingering a particular poster and sometimes not, sometimes pointing out specific posts but usually not, over and over and over. pr_capone isn't one of these people, btw.

Now you've done it.

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Quote:

Reporter: "I guess the question is: Why should Americans trust you when you accuse the information they receive as being fake, when you're providing information that is not accurate?"

TRUMP: "Well, I was given that information. I was, actually, I've seen that information around.

I didn't think it was hostile towards gays. I understand that the internet is in black and white and asked him if I was understanding the meaning of his post correctly. I am glad I did because his comment was not intended in the way I read it. You are the one that brought race all up in this thread. My question to him was on topic.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pr_capone

I could be wrong, but there seems to be a lot of anger towards gays, in this post.

My bad, I guess.

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Quote:

Reporter: "I guess the question is: Why should Americans trust you when you accuse the information they receive as being fake, when you're providing information that is not accurate?"

TRUMP: "Well, I was given that information. I was, actually, I've seen that information around.

The beginning of the sentence started with "I could be wrong". Couple that with the fact that I used the word "seems" should indicate to the reader that I am unsure as to his position and am wanting clarification. I further acknowledge that I don't fully understand his position by adding "or I am completely misreading" at the end of my post. Furthermore, I never once brought up race in my post. This is something you brought into the conversation... not I.

Anything that ever calls republicans out on their obvious bullshit is bedwetter liberal. Got it.

It's not my fault that your party has gone so far around the bend it's moved every moderate and centrist to the left. That would be the various propaganda outlets that you all slurp up like mother's milk.

The beginning of the sentence started with "I could be wrong". Couple that with the fact that I used the word "seems" should indicate to the reader that I am unsure as to his position and am wanting clarification. I further acknowledge that I don't fully understand his position by adding "or I am completely misreading" at the end of my post. Furthermore, I never once brought up race in my post. This is something you brought into the conversation... not I.

But yeah... I was totally calling him a homophobe and a racist.

I said my bad. I was just, way, way off. JFC

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Quote:

Reporter: "I guess the question is: Why should Americans trust you when you accuse the information they receive as being fake, when you're providing information that is not accurate?"

TRUMP: "Well, I was given that information. I was, actually, I've seen that information around.

I confess that I've lost track of who starts it in each thread. I just know that I keep seeing a handful of the same posters whining about a supposed abundance of racist posts in DC, sometimes specifically fingering a particular poster and sometimes not, sometimes pointing out specific posts but usually not, over and over and over. pr_capone isn't one of these people, btw.

Seems to be the general tone of Democrats this election cycle, in my opinion.